RAPTORS NEED TO FIND THEIR KILLER INSTINCT
ONCE AGAIN, TORONTO HAS A CHANCE TO ELIMINATE ITS PLAYOFF OPPONENT IN A GAME 6
Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan came to the i nterview stage after their win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night and they insisted that Norm Powell sit between them.
Lowry pulled out the chair for Powell, theatrically, and patted him on the butt.
After the first few questions were about Lowry’s health and DeRozan’s response to double teams, Lowry interjected: “Norm’s here. Ask him a question.” When someone did, Lowry clapped politely.
The Toronto Raptors are loose and confident. This can’t be good.
It’s not that the Raptors don’t have good reason to be confident. Five games into their series against Milwaukee, Toronto finally put together a the kind of night that was envisioned for this team when management loaded up at the trade deadline. They had a double-digit lead less than eight minutes in and, despite some wobbles, it rarely got much closer than that on the way to the 118- 93 victory.
The Raptors shot the ball exceedingly well, averaging 58 per cent from the field, 44 per cent from three- point range and 92 per cent from the free- throw line. With that shooting and 28 assists, a record in the Dwane Casey era, it was like the team collectively turned into Steve Nash. ( Except, ahem, for the 17 turnovers.)
Of all people, Powell — the second- year swingman who averaged just 18 minutes per game in the regular season — was the key to the whole thing, scoring 25 points that included four threepointers, a couple of spectacular dunks and a baffling breakaway layup in which Milwaukee’s Malcolm Brogdon was holding both of his arms.
That Powell had such a good night was obviously important, but it also underlined what was supposed to be the key difference between these teams heading into the series: depth. The late additions of Serge Ibaka and P. J. Tucker gave Casey an array of lineup options and as the Raptors struggled in the early part of the series, the coach got serious with the fiddling. Jonas Valanciunas went to the bench and Ibaka started in his place at centre with Powell stepping in to the vacated forward spot. That look has given the Raptors a little more speed, floor spacing and outside shooting, all of which has proven useful against a young and fast Bucks team. Valanciunas, the best player in Toronto’s first- round series against Indiana last year, is instead a substitute who comes in when Milwaukee’s lumbering Greg Monroe enters the game.
It’s a lot for a Bucks team that starts two rookies to deal with. In Game 5, all five Toronto starters had at least 12 points and Milwaukee had just two players with that many, although Giannis Antetokounmpo, the wonder- forward who can seemingly make layups from anywhere on the court, led all scorers with 30. This was the expectation of the Raptors before the series began, though they wouldn’t admit it publicly: the 22- year- old Antetokounmpo would get his buckets, but he wasn’t quite at the point where he could take over games by himself and the Raptors would have a clear advantage with the rest of their playoff- tested veterans. It took a while, but it eventually came to pass.
So, yes, reason for optimism. But then, this is a Raptors team that never makes things easy. There is the absurd 0-9 run in series- opening games, including five on home court over the last four seasons, and there are the three Game 6 losses last year, including two on the road when Toronto had just taken a 3-2 series lead and had chances to close weaker opponents out.
Aside from the Raptors’ general history with these things, there’s also the fact that this series has been bizarrely unpredictable. Game 1 was supposed to be when the Raptors showed that they were fully over the playoff jitters and instead they suffered a dispiriting loss, which was only surpassed by the even-more-dispiriting Game 3 loss. Toronto played a good offensive game in Game 2 and a good defensive game in Game 4, but neither of those wins did much to dispel the prevailing narrative that the Raptors were underachieving in the playoffs once again. And then Game 5, where all was finally right in their world.
Afterward, Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd was talking about his inexperienced team and how this upcoming elimination game would be a new experience for them. It would be, he said, something they could only learn by trying: “We have to walk through that door,” he said. Game 5, he noted, was similarly a learning experience: “You gotta know how it feels to get your ass kicked,” Kidd said.
And then the coach mentioned his opponents, a team that has been there before, that went to the conference final last year and that knows something about playing well when facing elimination.
It takes a minute before you remember he’s talking about the Raptors. Oh, yeah, they have done that, haven’t they? They did win some big games last year, twice in Game 5 when the series was tied and twice in Game 7.
What they didn’t do was close out the series early when they had the chance. For all their struggles, the Raptors should know now that they are the better team in this series. Maybe that will help them for once.